Breaking Point
by Kushinada Uzumaki
Summary: AU: People hate and fear that which they can not understand. 'Naruto' thought it would be easy, just prove that their hate and fear was unjustified, but one small choice can change everything. Now, the village has crossed a line and nothing will ever be the same again. Darkish!Naruto.
1. Chapter 1

**Birth of Menma Arc.**

**Breaking Point.**

**Chapter 1: The Break. **

_Nature vs Nurture._

Naruto didn't quite know what that was, but he was sure it kind of pertained to his life. He was only seven, yet he didn't really have many happy memories.

He didn't really know much about emotions, other than what he observed. True, he had emotions, but his confidence in them always wavered.

Jiji had said emotions were what made one human, and that he should always hold on to them. But from the emotions he felt... he wasn't sure they made him very human.

Rage, hate, envy, sorrow, grief, and occasionally happiness or as close to it as he could get – and he was pretty sure some of those emotions were considered the same thing, like sorrow and grief, but to him they seemed different enough.

There was one emotions he'd always wanted to feel. Love and acceptance from everyone.

He never really got it though, the only one who truly accepted him was Jiji, and one person who was running – or trying to run – a shinobi village didn't truly have enough time to spend on him.

For so long he had wanted nothing more than to prove o the villagers he wasn't the demon they claimed he was, and so he acted out. What better way to make a point than to be the opposite of what demons were said to be.

His answer. Flamboyantly happy, loud, and hyper even. He'd turned to pranks. If they were going to glare and hate his existence than they were going to hate him for a something he had done.

One day he would prove himself and gain their acknowledgment by becoming Hokage – even if he was aware his reasons for doing so weren't exactly noble.

Hokage's were supposed to love their village and people and protect it with their life.

He could pull off most of that, even if it wasn't love for the people in the village driving him but love for the place he was born and called home.

Maybe one day, he would tell himself, that would change and he could grow to love the people of Konoha.

That was then.

Now... he just didn't care.

The week around his birthday every years was particularly bad. He had learned early not to aggravate anyone, to stay to himself, to not even attempt to play a prank less he have to try to outrun a villager, sometimes even a shinobi – which was ten times harder.

The night before and of October 10th was always the worse.

Usually it was because of some villager or shinobi who was shit faced – and in this case that meant drunk, in case someone didn't know. He sure as hell didn't before he'd asked Jiji and that had been awkward in itself.

This time things had been worse, so much worse. He'd made a mistake, he'd gone out.

If you asked him why he decided too make a run after getting home from the Academy on his birthday, after dark, he'd have a hard time answering. Mostly because he couldn't remember, too many hits to the head apparently.

He wasn't sure if he'd been going somewhere else or on his way back but somewhere he'd stumbled upon a party of drunks. Drowning their sorrow in booze.

He'd tried to run, but seeing him had sparked a fire, and it was a fire he himself couldn't put out. Why? He hadn't known until that night. The revelation after so much pain... well everyone had a breaking point.

They say one choice can change the course of time. Something like the Butterfly effect, or whatever it had been Iruka-sensei had been talking about during one of their classes.

Why something like a Butterfly effect came up in class, well he had most likely slept through it so he didn't know.

But he digressed.

The point was, they had crossed a line and no one had even noticed or cared to help him until it was far too late. The average man wouldn't know what it felt like to have members of a village that was supposed to be kind to you beat you into a inch of your life.

Nor would they understand what it was like for said people to attempt to finish the Yondaime's work by purging the demon's evil with fire.

His memories of that night were sparse, mostly if he thought about it he knew he'd been hurt... a lot. He knew he'd been inches from death.

Anyone else would have died, as it was he'd lost nearly all his skin and hair from the fire which had been put out by some of the Anbu more fond of him. Along with those who weren't at the Kyuubi festival just outside of town or drinking, or already drunk.

He supposed even Shinobi weren't perfect.

It had surprised him just how many had come to help him, or at least so Jiji had told him once he woke up.

While he was recovering in the Hospital, and after he'd woken up, Jiji had come and asked him what had happened.

He'd already gotten the story from those who had attacked him, and they had been publicly executed for their acts – a warning that attacking a child, drunk or not (or in this case, Jinchuuriki or not) would not be tolerated.

That this was first and foremost a military village, and a dictatorship, not a democracy.

He'd had a hard time wrapping his head around that one, Jiji had always seemed so kind, much to kind for such a decision.

Execution yeah, he could see that. Jiji was a shinobi after all, but a _public _one... that had shocked him for a few moments.

Unfortunately, Naruto could not tell him exactly what had happened.

All he remembered was that he had been out for some reason and had somewhere in between going and returning run into the drunks who had recognized him as the _'demon brat'_ and attacked.

He recalled pain, and some sparse moments in the beating and being set on fire but it all blanked after that besides the pain.

He also remembered meeting Kyuubi, the demon who was the reason everyone disliked, even hate him. Surprising;y he could say he hated the Kyuubi, he'd not asked to be sealed inside him, just as Naruto hadn't asked to be used to seal him.

Once Jiji had finished explaining his injuries he'd felt as if everything had been pulled from beneath him. How could he possibly be a shinobi with such scars which covered ninety percent of his body and no hair. He'd bet he even looked like a demon.

But his first thoughts hadn't been how it would inconvenience him in making the village acknowledge him as a human being.

Naruto just no longer cared. They could rot for all he cared.

But it was as he thought this, and stared down at his lap where his hands rest he noticed that while he had some bandages, he was not horridly scared nor skinless.

Raising a slow, hesitant hand to his head he felt hair, not exactly soft or silky seeing as he'd been in the hospital for nearly three weeks. A week of that being in a semi-coma like state.

What had surprised him was that when a spike of his shaggy, spiky hair had fallen into his face it wasn't sunshine blonde that met him, but raven black.

_'What happened to me?' he asked. _

_Sarutobi sighed, removing his pipe from his mouth for once. _

_'The doctors didn't think you would even wake up, much less that you would heal to this extent. Usually, when a human is burned to this extent they end up horribly scarred and if the hair is lost, it doesn't grow back.' _

_Naruto blinked. _

_'Then how do I... and why is it black?' he asked, his eyes dark with a lack of emotion and confusion. _

_'You're... mothers blood might be part of it, but the rest is the fact you aren't exactly like the other children...' Hokage-jiji began and he realized what he meant. _

_'You're talking about the Kyuubi.' _

_Jiji's eyes widened. _

_'You... you know?' _

_'He talked to me when I was out, said I was so close to death I was automatically pulled into the seal. We didn't exactly talk much.' he admitted. 'You believe it's because of the Kyuubi my skin regenerated and my hair grew back?' _

_The Hokage nodded. _

_'That is exactly what I believe. Jinchuuriki's already have an inhuman healing rate, and your mother's clan had a healing factor higher then most others, along with others.' _

_'My mother, you know who my parents are don't you?' he asked, for once realizing that all those times he'd asked, Jiji had been lying to him. _

_He heard a sigh, but refused to look up to meet the Hokage's gaze. _

_'I'm sorry Naruto... but you're right. I do know. You're mother was the heir of the Uzumaki clan in Uzu no Kuni. She came to Konoha as a child, just before her village, Uzushiogakure no Sato was destroyed in the Third Shinobi war. Your father was Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage.' _

Naruto would have loved to say he had smiled widely after the shock had worn off, and forgiven his father for making him a Jinchuuriki. But the truth was... he couldn't find it in himself to feel much of anything.

He felt more for his mother than he did his father, yet at the same time it was so faint he was confused on his feelings for his parents.

Eventually he decided it didn't mater. They were dead, he'd never get to meet them anyways. But he did know he couldn't exactly forgive his father either.

As for his hair... well Sarutobi Jiji had explained that they believed that when Kyuubi had healed him, his hair had grown back as if he were a baby getting hair for the first time.

He suspected Kyuubi had to mess with the genetics in anyway he could to force the hair to grow back, hence a recessive gene was triggered giving him black hair.

From what Jiji had said, his father's parents were killed when his father was still a toddler, but his grandmother, Namikaze Minako, had the same black hair.

He was sort of relieved it was black and not his mother red – not that he had anything against his mothers hair.

From the picture Jiji had given him she was beautiful in her own right, and her hair made her one of the most unique in Konoha. But it just wouldn't suit him, in his opinion.

He much preferred his new black hair, it was also easier to hide with than his once blonde hair had been.

A month after the incident that had changed everything for him, he hadn't really left his apartment much. If he did he wore a heavy hooded hoodie, which was a size or two bigger than he needed so it hide his face very well.

The only thing ruining the image was the fact it was orange, bright orange. A color which he had chosen to be noticed, though he also was fond of the color.

Now it just made him grimace in pain and any negative emotion you could think of to be honest.

Actually, besides his doctors, those Anbu who guarded him, and Jiji, he didn't think anyone had actually seen him since the week before his birthday. He hadn't even gone back to the academy yet.

"Naruto," a familiar voice said as they entered into his room where he sat actually reading a book.

Looking up his passive blue eyes seemed to pierce right through the tired old Sandaime Hokage. Sarutobi Hiruzen had tried his hardest to given Naruto the life he deserved, the one Minato and Kushina would have wanted.

Yet, his first mistake was trusting the village – as he thought Minato would have done – with the fact the Kyuubi had been sealed into a orphan baby.

Maybe if he'd told them Naruto's heritage as the last Namikaze and Uzumaki heir, he might have been treated better. But somewhere in his mind he wasn't sure it would have made a difference.

People were known to hate that which they could not understand. And grief made a person mad, it was just a fact.

They didn't realize, though it was common sense to him, that by treating the boy as a monster, a demon, they were creating one.

A self fulfilling prophecy, in a way.

Every time he saw Naruto now, so unlike himself, his heart splintered and shattered all over again.

His skin a tad paler, his whisker marks seemed a bit more feral looking, not just three black birthmarks on each cheek, and his hair was so like his father had been mixed with a Uchiha.

Actually, if Naruto was paler, had a few sharper features, had black eyes he'd look like a typical Uchiha. He was even beginning have that common passive look some got, none more known than Uchiha Itachi himself.

But Naruto's was far more emotional at the same time, under the passive, cold exterior was the heard of loneliness, pain, and every other negative emotion known to man.

One just had to be able to see underneath the underneath to spot it.

"Hokage-jiji," Naruto said, nodding. But Hiruzen could tell he wasn't finished. "I...I don't feel like Naruto."

Raising an eyebrow he blinked.

"I'm sorry? What do you mean, Narut - "

Naruto's eyes hardened and snapped up to meet his almost glowing in rage as a snarl gripped the edges of the boys mouth. Pulling back and revealing sharper than normal canines, well unless you were an Inuzuka.

"Don't! Don't call me that!"

"But Na – child, it's your name," he argued, though he did stop himself from calling the boy by his name. Though he was confused on what to call him otherwise.

"I don't feel like him though. Naruto wanted to be seen as a human being, to be loved. I... I just don't. I don't feel anything anymore... not really. I feel everything he did, but I lack the drive I once did, I guess" Naruto glared down at the floor, his hands clinched into fist.

"I'm not him anymore. I can't be him... I don't care."

'They've finally done it haven't they, Naruto?' the Sandaime though to himself, grief in every thought. 'They've crossed a line, they've broken you.'

Sighing Hiruzen nodded.

The boy was in a fragile state of mind, in a way he knew he always had been. One wrong move and the boy would plummet into insanity.

He was already half-way there it seemed. Before... well, Hiruzen was fairly sure that while most the loud, happy, hyper grins had been faked to a great extent, that Naruto was sane.

As sane as any Jinchuuriki could be, the poster boy for a sane bijuu container.

Now, because of the village he and his predecessors, and former successor loved so much, he was only barely better than the others. He could only be thankful the boy wasn't so far gone as to start slaughtering everyone who looked at him wrong.

"Alright," he finally said. "If you want, you can find a new name. Sometimes, we have to find ourselves again. Sometimes we can never be who we were, and if being called Naruto upsets you than by all means change it."

It broke his heart a little more to say that. He knew why Minato and Kushina had decided on that name over the one they'd originally been planning to use. It was one of the reasons Jiraiya was he boys godfather.

Naruto looked at him and he was happy to see they had lightened some, back to their originally bright cerulean, but only just. They were still so passive.

But he was actually smiling, a small barely there smile, but a smile nonetheless.

"I don't know... my parents, why did they name me Naruto?" he asked after a moment.

Hiruzen smiled, placing his pipe back in his mouth.

"Your father's favorite book was where they got it. They had actually been planning to name you something else, a name you mother was really fond of for reasons I found rather amusing. The name, Naruto, came from the main character of this book, a hero."

"So, my father named me," Naruto muttered, and Hiruzen wasn't sure if the emotion in his voice was good or bad.

He was aware the boy had mixed feelings over his father.

"I supposed, but you mother did agree in the end. Said that it worked out, since Naruto was also a topping for Ramen. " Hiruzen laughed. "Your mother loved Ramen just as much as you, come to think of it."

Naruto smiled a little wider.

"The name, the one they were going to use. What was it?"

Hiruzen smiled again. Maybe, in a way it would be as if Naruto hadn't died that day, if he was considering a name chosen by his parents. While Kushina had picked the name first, Minato had been as fond of it as Kushina. And not because it was a condiment for Ramen.

"Menma."

The small smile on the boys face widened even more, his eyes gained more emotion, something akin to joy.

In that moment, Uzumaki Naruto no longer existed, all that remained was Uzumaki Menma.


	2. Chapter 2

**So, I want to thank everyone who reviewed and I hope you'll continue to review. **

**Anyways, here is the next chapter, and I hope you all enjoy it as well. Be aware that for a few chapters it might be rather slow going, the plot I mean. Eventually it'll get more interesting.  
**

* * *

**Birth of Menma Arc.**

**Breaking Point.**

**Chapter 2: Adjusting. **

Naruto, or now Menma's, return to the public eye went as well as could be expected.

After the stunt the drunken villagers had pulled it had been made clear that the laws set to help Naruto live happily and peacefully in Konoha were to be strictly followed.

Anyone caught breaking them would be executed, and those suspected would be sent to Ibiki. The Sandaime Hokage was going to make sure something like what happened to Menma didn't happen ever again.

He'd been far to lax and trusting of his people, a little reminder that he was Hokage and his laws were not just there for them to pick and choose from wouldn't hurt them. Unless they chose to break them of course.

Some who heard this blamed Menma for the Hokage's sudden strict enforcement of the law after so long, but of course only those who'd already known Menma was the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki.

The kids of course had no idea, they knew that 'Naruto' had been sick and in the hospital for a few weeks since his birthday.

And later they'd been told he was caught by drunks and hurt badly, but the extent of how and why was never really explained. When they did see him again in late November they had barely recognized him.

He had entered the room with his head slightly down, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his black cargo-style pants that were tapped down by bandages at the ankle and black shinobi sandals.

His wore a long sleeve mesh armor shirt under a dark gray t-shirt which had a orange-red spiral on the front.

Though, the spiral was normal for him, many suspected it was his family symbol, though others realized it was nearly identical to the spiral symbol that was on the flak jackets as well.

Around his waist was a black and dark orange-red jacket, similar yet different from his old bright orange and blue _one. _

What had truly shocked them wasn't the wardrobe change, which seemed to suit him, it was the other changes. His hair was no longer bright blonde, but black.

It was also a little longer, especially in the front. His hair style kept getting as many looks of recognition and confusion as the color did.

The lack of seriously bright, Kill-me, colored clothes suited him, but at the same time was foreign.

It made everyone who realized who exactly the spiky haired raven was take a triple take. More if not for the dark orange-red he'd traded his kill-me orange for.

A few people, before they recognized facial features, mostly by seeing the distinctive whisker marks, had mistook him for someone else.

A few even thought he might be an Uchiha from his rather untamed raven hair, but once his head was raised and you saw his deep blue eyes and lightly tanned skin you knew he was not.

Though some debated on if he had any ancestors who were Uchiha's, as he was an orphan. Nothing was known about his family.

Menma found it amusing how someone saw raven black hair, slightly pale skin tone, and automatically thought of the Uchiha clan.

Many people had black hair, pale skin and black eyes. He also knew he wasn't related to them closely, if at all.

Not much was known about the Uzumaki, and if they had married into any clans beside the Senju inside Konoha. Or elsewhere.

Even that had only happened with Mito seeing as she'd came from Uzushio to stay in Konoha with her chosen husband.

It wasn't exactly too common for Kunoichi or Shinobi from other villages to fall in love and one of them to move to the others village.

When it did, it didn't always end well, because their villages wouldn't accept trading one of their ninja for nothing substantial.

He only knew these things because he'd taken to reading a little more, and Hokage-jiji had given him multiple scrolls that his parents had left for him.

One was a hastily written letter, probably between the rush of his birth and the Kyuubi's sealing.

He suspected it might have been written by Shadow clones because the Sandaime had no idea where Minato and Kushina had found the time.

There were multiple things that interested him. The family taijutsus, which he would tweak to suit his needs.

The Uzumaki style seemed to suit the women of the clan much more seeing as they were a lot more flexible and agile. Most had bodies built for speed and some even strength.

His father's style would be more suited to him, but he'd find a way to use both and mix them in the future.

He may not be the smartest shinobi in the village but he was by no means an idiot. He'd portrayed himself as the village would most likely like seeing him.

Subconsciously, back then he'd feared that if he'd shown how cunning, and intelligent he could be it would cause them to try ten times harder to kill or hinder him.

Now it didn't mater. He'd rather be feared than to seem a vulnerable target.

The object of surprise that it could have given him had he tried to keep up his mask of idiocy as not worth the strain and energy to keep it up. It had been draining before, now with his new outlook it would be pure hell.

As for jutsu, his mother had left him some clan scrolls with common Uzumaki ninjutsu, mostly with the lightning, wind or water element which was most common in her home lands.

There was also many scrolls on Fuuinjutsu which was one of his mother's strongest skills, along with Kenjutsu and Taijutsu.

Many Uzumaki were known to be Jack of many if not all trades. They were known for their vitality, healing that bordered on regeneration, and large chakra that was often times unique to them.

Like his mother's chakra chains.

His father had been a Fuuinjutsu specialist as well but was nearly as skilled in Ninjutsu and Taijutsu, and was known for his special kunai which seemed to be the root of his Hiraishin.

The two that had caught his attention was his father's Rasengan and Hiraishin. Both techniques would be interesting to learn, but he knew they wouldn't be easy either.

It could take him years. It had taken his father three years to create the Rasengan after all, and nearly four to perfect the Hiraishin, two of those years trying to make the seal as full proof as possible.

This was all according to his precise notes.

Menma shook himself from his thoughts as he chose a seat close to the back and the window, to give him a good view and keep his distance from the others.

"What... did you dye you hair, Uzumaki?" Kiba asked, snickering and he was shocked that when the now raven haired boy turned to him his eyes seemed to lack any real emotion.

Stoic and passive, two words that could easily describe the once hyperactive blond.

"No," he said. "It grew back this way."

Kiba wasn't the only one wondering about his new appearance. Everyone was, and nearly everyone was staring at him as if the answer would suddenly be sent into their heads by magic.

"What did you do, cut it all off?" Kiba asked and laughed.

"I-I thi-think it suits you Na-naruto-kun," a blushing Hinata stuttered

'Naruto' flinched at the name and glared shortly, though not exactly at Hinata.

"Don't call me that," he snapped.

"What are we supposed to call you than?" Shikamaru asked lazily from his seat a row in front of him.

"Menma," he said. "My name is Menma now."

"Huh, why would you change you name? Trying to be cool or something?" Kiba blurted out, blinking owlishly.

Menma glared and shook his head.

"How do you know it wasn't supposed to be my name from birth?" he said, smirking slightly. "I am an orphan after all."

many blinked at this and Shikamaru stared with a look of concentration before nodding, and then shrugging.

"He's right. I take it he probably found out something about his parents, and has taken on the name they gave him apposed to the name he was probably given by whoever found him," he said, and everyone blinked but seemed to accept this explanation.

In a way it was true. Menma could have easily been his name from birth, and for a while it had been his name before birth. Before they had decided on Naruto instead, but Menma felt more connected to his name now than he did to Naruto.

"Everyone sit down," Iruka said as he came in and those gathered close, yet not too closely returned to their seats.

Menma let out a sigh of relief at this and half focused on the lesson and half on the world outside the window.

* * *

Umino Iruka would admit when he'd first met the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi he'd let his pain of loosing his parents to the Kyuubi get the better of him.

At first when he'd seen the blonde boy, with the large (fake) grin he'd only seen red eyes and distorted features trying to shape into a large red-orange fox.

But he was no fool. It had taken him a year, give or take a few months, but he could now clearly see what was the jailer and what was the prisoner.

Uzumaki was no more the Kyuubi than a kunai was the scroll it might be sealed in. he'd been blind to think otherwise and after talking to the Hokage nearly two months ago he was determined to try and help Naruto.

His help, it seemed was too little too late.

He'd visited the boy once or twice while he was in his short coma after the attack.

He was there the day the Sandaime Hokage had the perpetrators publicly executed, with a stern warning that this would happen to anyone who tried to harm another in the village – be it civilian or shinobi.

The one carrying it out, an Anbu in a Inu (dog) mask, seemed much to enthusiastic about doing the job, though it would take a trained eye to have noticed this.

As Anbu were trained to be rather emotionless in their body language. He suspected it was personal, that the Inu Anbu was one of Naruto – no Menma's Anbu protectors.

Then when he had spotted Naru – Menma, he reminded himself once again, the day he'd returned to the Academy he'd been caught by surprise.

If he didn't know any better he'd say that this new stoic raven haired boy was not Uzumaki Naruto, yet it was obviously him.

The whisker birthmarks, though more feral looking, were a dead give away. The blue eyes as well, even if they did lack any emotion, fake or otherwise.

Though he supposed that wasn't completely true, at times they did have emotions. They were just hard to spot and name correctly. Most were not the emotions a seven year old should have.

After three months things had turned back to normal, or as normal as possible. Yet, everything had changed.

No longer was the room buzzing with the confident hyper activity of a sunny blond.

No longer did those emotions play across the boys face, and it seemed to him a part of Naruto. Even if over exaggerated and mostly faked to hide his true pain at being ostracized, had died on that fateful day.

Iruka cursed the blind villagers for that, they had no idea what they'd truly done. He could only hope he wasn't so completely broken as to start killing anyone who got him angry.

Iruka didn't know how the Hokage would fix something like that. The Council he knew would be up his backside if it seemed the boy, the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi was turning on them.

_'Would be our own damn fault,'_ he thought scornfully to himself.

Truth be told, he didn't know what to think of this new darker boy, Menma.

He frowned thinking of how the boy had changed his name, not just verbally but legally as well.

The Sandaime had amended his birth certificate by authorizing a new copy which read as Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto Menma.

A mouth full and middle names weren't common practice in Konoha or Hi no Kuni.

He understood though, the Sandaime hadn't completely wanted to cut the boys birth name off from him, despite the name Menma being one of the names his parents had chosen to give him before choosing Naruto instead.

He'd seen the improvement in Menma in these few months, but at the same time he didn't really try.

He suspected and had for a long time, that if he tried he could become the Rookie of the Year with only some hard work. He wasn't near as stupid as he played, he supposed that might have become a survival tactic for the former blond.

As of now, Uzumaki Menma was still the Dead Last, and he'd probably stay that way seeing as the boy made no attempt to really change his scores.

Though, his written test might not have much to do with not trying and more to do with not testing well.

He'd seen it before in students. Give them a physical or oral form of test and they usually passed with flying colors.

Make them sit down and write and they barely passed, or had to work extremely hard to get where they usually got when it wasn't a written test.

"Alright, that's all for today," Iruka called, coming form his thoughts. "I'll see you all next week."

The students stood excitably, all but a few of the more refined ones. He sighed noticing Menma was the last to stand and the last to head out, hands stuffed in his pockets and shoulder slouched some. His head down, eyes locked on the ground before him.

"Wait, Nar...Menma!" Iruka called out, quickly amending his slip of the tongue.

Menma halted and turned, his eyes showing his slight curiosity. They were still so different from what he had been used to that he fought back a shiver.

"Yes, Iruka-sensei?" he asked in a low tone.

Iruka grinned, coming around to stand in front of the dark boy.

"I know you've been working hard lately, it shows in your Taijutsu fights with the others and you weapon throwing," he said. "How about I take you out for some Ramen, as a reward on improving so much?"

Menma's eyes darkened some, all emotion leaving them for a time as he gazed up into Iruka's. This was unnerving for the chūnin, and it took a few moments before the boys eyes weren't so cold and he nodded.

"Sure, I haven't had ramen in a while," Menma admitted, his tone of voice barely more than monotone.

Iruka watched as the boy walked on ahead of him and sighed, but smiled slightly.

There was still more adjusting to do, but it was possible it wouldn't be so bad in the end. The damage may have been done, but there was always the future.


End file.
